


Broken Masquerade

by 07JoeTheBastardo



Category: Overlord - Maruyama Kugane & Related Fandoms
Genre: A new story?, Atrocious, Bargaining, Being Lost, Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Escapism, Existential Crisis, Getting isekaied sucks, Loss of Identity, M/M, Magic-Users, Philosophical Thoughts & Questions, Rags to Riches, Realistic, Self-Discovery, Self-Reflection, Violent Thoughts, War, bros and feelings n shit, wow would you look at this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:53:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24859465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/07JoeTheBastardo/pseuds/07JoeTheBastardo
Summary: in which ito hisakazu isn't pushed out from the force log out and instead wakes up to find himself in the body of his avatar, in the middle of some mountains, and with absolutely no clue what world this shitty system had dropped him into.all because he was being an asshole and just wanted to see the sunset of Yggdrasil one last time, tragically leaving his pathetic, sickly, 30 year-old body behind.he decides to just go with the flow, one step at a time.what could possibly go wrong?(the answer is:everything)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 28
Collections: Time Travel and World Travel





	1. he's lost isn't he?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s honestly a bit peaceful… if you forget the whole ‘transmigrating into a video game avatar in the middle of the woods’ thing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _“Today is the last day Yggdrasil’s servers will run. Why not stay until the end?”_

1.

His feet drag across the fallen leaves, trekking downwards. The moon is high, the grass is glimmering and the wildflowers are in full bloom but nothing feels right. Just the full scope of awareness— the feeling of rocks underneath his foot, the cold temperature on his skin, the inner movements of his lungs as he inhales and exhales with shaky trembles.

— _ow! Yeah, that's a branch._

These somber thoughts are interrupted by a ray of moonshine that falls within Hisakazu's line of sight, and he turns his head to look up at the dark sky. _Were the skies always this clear?_

He wants to burst into tears again.

Because one second he's at the cliffside, overlooking the pink clouds scattered like misplaced toys, and watching his computer show a sunset. He has never seen one in person, but he thinks it would have felt warm and kind. 

Then in another second, all the colors blurred together, his breathing is getting shorter and shorter by the moment, and it felt like he was being _s t r e t c h e d—_

—before he, disorient, fell on his ass, his throat burning with acid, and his eyes tearing up. 

The first thing that Ito Hisakazu thinks about after that mind fuck that just occurred (aside from the splitting headache rocking around in his skull) is; _what the fuck?_

Then came these strange sensations; The rough texture of dirt and grass scratches at the exposed skin of his hands and feet. His real feet. His… _non-human_ feet. The headache _pulses_ as he forces himself to calm down and Hisakazu almost screams when he spots something big, and dark poking in his peripheral vision. 

Wings. _It's wings!_ Oh, god he's gonna throw up—

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

He reaches up to tug at the feathers ( _Excuse me?_ Last time he checked he wasn't a walking, talking freak show) but the moment he catches sight of his hands he does scream. A very high pitch scream, titling on screeching.

 _My hands,_ he thinks in horror lifting them in front of his face; a pair of unfamiliar hands, big, veiny, and downright foreign, stealing the place of his much familiar pale hands that Ito Hisakazu had come to know _explicitly_ well over the last thirty years of his pathetic life.

A realization washes over him. 

_No way. No, fucking, way_. Dread pools in his stomach— he has seen those feet before. Just from a distance, and dulled out through a screen. _Please_ let this be some sort post brain damage experienced from the forced logout and that he’s not actually on the ground in the middle of nowhere, covered in dirt and alone, and somehow, in some way, in _his actual fricking avatar._

"No way,” he vehemently shakes his head, flinching in surprise at the _low-pitched_ tone that leaves his mouth. The uncomfortable feeling of hearing his voice being _distorted_ , if put through a fan and then edited by a kid thinking it was cool. (Well, it does sound a little cool, but that's not the point here)

No matter how much he repeats words and calls for his GM, his voice just doesn’t return to normal, only the gradually-receding headache and sounds of birds keeping him company. 

Something rustles in the trees behind him, and Hisakazu takes that as a cue to hightail it out of there— it’s probably not the best idea for a nob like himself to just be hanging around the woods of a strange world. So he wanders, carefully, through the area, making sure to stay close to trees, and keeping an eye out for anything that could potentially make him it’s next meal. He stops. He's strong, right? 

(What if there's something even stronger and it's hungry?) 

He walks faster.

It’s honestly a bit peaceful… if you forget the whole ‘transmigrating into a video game avatar in the middle of the woods’ thing. 

The second thing Ito Hisakazu thinks after waking up is: _oh god please no_. Dim, foggy memories flash in front of his eyes, and that dreadful feeling in his stomach doubles —the last thing he remembers before waking up was him walking away from Momonga after a small screaming match. Is he here too? He hopes so, he also hopes he can actually form the words in his mouth and say he's sorry. 

By the time he manages to get _anywhere,_ the sun has begun to set, his feet sting painfully, and a cold wind has started to bite at his skin. When he walks up, to what he thought was a clearing turns out to be a motherfucking cliff. A feeling of déjà vu hits him.

But his tired eyes perk up at the sight of soft moonlight hitting his face. And he was right, it feels soft, and kind. He feels himself grin at the sight. Despite never seeing such clarity in his reality, he knows through a pixilated lens on how they should look, it dwarfs the exact thing. How in dept, never-ending feel, as if one could spend their lifetime and more and still it wouldn't be enough.

It's breathtaking.

—before that peace is immediately trampled by the reality of his situation when he remembers that 1) he doesn't recognize any of this, not the mountains, not the terrain, and 2) is most likely _not_ going to run into his fellow player, that probably hates his guts right now.

And it hits right in his chest that he's alone.

It’s disheartening, and for the first time since he woke up, Hisakazu kind of feels like he wants to cry. No frustration at the stupid broken GM, no awe at the cool things around him, just a cold, lonely feeling starting to flicker in his chest like a budding flame. He’s _alone_.

Really, truly alone here. 

And that's a bit terrifying. 

So, he makes the journey downwards, trekking through boulders, and trees, before they eventually thin out to make access for him to spot a river not too far away (...convenient), and he heaves a heavy sigh. 

!

If he has wings then he can fly, right? Hisakazu looked behind him, to the pair of wings dragging behind him. There are twigs tangled up there, some dirt clinging to it, and kinda looks bad, _but_ he doesn't know if he doesn't try, right?

He nods to himself, testing to see how he flaps the darn things, and it's so weird. Like having an extra arm you never really paid attention to because it was always there. 

"Okay, okay, we can do this," Spurring himself up, and embolden, he starts to run, flapping his wings with it. 

He only gets up three feet in the air before he loses balance and crashes down to the dirt.

Hisakazu had read enough shitty isekai-type web novels and equally as shitty fan-fiction to know that most protagonists usually know what to do in the gecko, having a good grasp in their abilities and _at least_ knew how to do the basics.

He spits dirt out of his mouth.

Boy, to say he isn’t thrilled would be the understatement of the century.

(Transmigration… Fucking _transmigration_. His head is hurting trying to wrap _that_ around his head)

Hisakazu hadn’t thought too deeply about the whole “transmigration’ thing— someone dies, get some sort of “second chance” at life the universe of some sort of (probably) fantasy novel, and that’s that. _But…_ when he sees his bleeding palm from the fall, the sheer _silence_ , and the complete darkness of the forest, he realizes, _it’s not that simple_. 

He _died_ and left behind his home, his best friend, and his (admittedly) kind of boring and a little bit pathetic, yet comfortable and familiar life, and woke up _here_. By himself, in the body of a _video game avatar,_ alone and clueless, with nobody but his thoughts to give him any type of companionship as he stumbles blindly into this life.

Which is bad, as he doesn't have the kindest thoughts.

_But!_

He doesn't have any real evidence that he is dead, for all he knows he's currently in the hospital, in some medical coma that his insurance can only cover for three weeks, max. He just needs just his body to stay strong until he gets back.

Which of course his fundamentally sickly body isn't equipped to handle, of course, fucking not, and he'll just _die_ like that.

(Wait. What if he's in his body dreaming this because his body couldn't handle the forceful logout— he needs to stop thinking, he can't have another crisis right now)

In his old life, he spent his twenty years surrounded by his friends, more colleagues than actual friends. Living in the same complex as his parents before him, dying and leaving him in the same spot as before.

And then he remembers Akio, no matter how often he got overwhelmed with his feelings and his sickness and needed time to himself, no matter how much they all fought with each other over both serious and stupid things, no matter how much more he preferred the silence of empty space rather than somewhere bustling with people; no matter what, his best friend is _always_ right behind him, waiting and secure, and ready to give him shit. But now... 

His aching feet stop at the edge of the waving river, a tight frown pulling at his lips. Hisakazu scoffs after a moment of stillness, ignoring the way his eyes sting with unshed tears, and the way the cold feeling in his chest starts to spread.

_I am alone now, huh._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for stopping by! I was always fascinated by the "what if's" i wanted to do a character that was a clean sheet so i didn't struggle as much when writing them. I want to play around with some ideas, but if you have any ideas or suggestions don't be hesitant!


	2. lonesome and lost in a fucking forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was no time to relax; Hisakazu always had to keep his senses aware and his actions careful, and because of that, the whole "trapped inside a game” thing was easily pushed to the back of his mind. Besides, he needs to do some important stuff.
> 
> Like the fact that he literally has fo figure out how, and if, there's magic and if his still works.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _"We're all islands shouting lies to each other across seas of misunderstanding." ___  
>  _  
>  _Rudyard Kipling_   
>  _

2.

"For fuck's sake--! _Get. Off. Me!"_

After just 10 hours of trying to survive all by himself, wherever the fuck he is, Hisakazu can confidently, one-hundred percent, absolutely say: _it can go and choke on a—_

"Oof!" 

Case; tripping over his own feet trying to get rid of the chest plate currently fighting with him. He can swear that it somehow has magic and it's using it to rise against him and fight back.

At first, he thought, _huh, I can do this,_ but after the first few 10 hours of no running water or modern plumbing, no heated conditioning, no electricity (which meant _no internet…_ meaning he can't exactly look up how to start a fire or how to catch your own food), and definitely nothing to eat. He’d already ran through his patience with this whole “transmigration” thing.

But whatever, _it could be worse. Right?_ At least he's alive, yeah? Contrary to anything he’d worried about, Hisakazu started to get used to his new situation _and_ his new body— and sure, it didn’t suck ass any less, but like… at least it got a bit easier? Right? 

Wrong!

He grunts, falling to the ground, finally able to feel the cool air on his bare chest. He sighs, not even wanting to _think_ about moving his limbs, facing the clearing skies above him. He wants to weep at the thought of walking again.

Even though he got somewhat used to his new body and _ugh,_ as time went on he found things started to get _harder,_ no matter if he finally found a way to bring his console up, only to find it's _shit_ , he learned through years of gameplay that there's _always_ something waiting in the shadows to bite him in the ass.

There was no time to relax; Hisakazu always had to keep his senses aware and his actions carefully, and because of that, the whole "trapped inside a game” thing was easily pushed to the back of his mind. Besides, he needs to do some important stuff.

Like the fact that he has fo figure out how, and if, there's magic and if he still works. Just a nice, simple spell and it'll be confirmed. A small problem; his arms feel like blocks of lead, and the persistent headache is still pulsing behind his eyelids.

And also trying to come to terms with the loss of the modern amenities that he was so, so, so, _so_ very and dearly grateful for (he never thought he’d miss being able to take a shit in a real _toilet_ until the horrifying realization hit him when he was working through his thoughts. He didn't want to wipe with leaves and twigs. )

His vision is blurry when heavy eyelids finally relent, and the warm haze he's in blinds him briefly— he has to blink a few times, sluggish and heavy, to make the colorful visage finally become clear. He closes his eyes again, not wanting to face his reality.

After those 10 hours of merciless walking finished, Hisakazu has come to a few new conclusions;

  1. Being out alone in the middle of the woods sucks ass.
  2. He has just managed to get the chest plate off
  3. And finally, due to his city life, he predicts he'll die out here in three days, tops.
  4. He still doesn't know where he is. Or if there are civilizations around.
  5. If he's alone or not.
  6. Also, magic (?)



Quite the predicament.

And to his discredit, he must've fallen asleep again, just like that, because the next time he's able to blink open his tired eyes, there's a new morning sun high above and there's wildlife sounds all around him. He doesn't even remember falling asleep. There’s still a dull stinging on the soles of his feet and with another drawn-out, childish groan, the instinctive pandiculation stretching soon followed.

This time, his head feels a bit more clear and he's able to move his limbs with a little more strength, a little less heaviness, so he doesn't have to think _too_ hard to recognize the small problem he has.

Does actual magic exist?

He brings his palm to his face, what now? He doesn't have the interface or the controls to summon or control. All the accumulated years of muscle memory and commands are still there, but with no way of actually getting anything done.

 _Magic is just intent_ , is what some old novel said when he read it in his past time. Looking around him, still lying on the smooth rocks, is that you don't want to get jumped in this forest by some monster. He needs to hide, even if he can still see the small HP bar, does that mean he can still do magic as in Yggdrasil? 

So, what if he can? What does he even do? Clench his buttcheeks, puff his chest out, and think, really, _really_ hard about the spell? Hisakazu held out his hand, still sitting on the ground, just like what it would have been for his avatar and puffs out his chest, envisage the magic, mouthing _—_

[ **Camouflage!]**

There's a flicker before the flame, a semi-translucent barrier starts to form around his palm, spreading down his arms and torso. He freezes, transfixed on the real (!) magic happening to his body. Okay, so this concludes experiment #1, does magic exist? _Yes, it fucking does_. He shakily drops his now glowing hand and sits up, ignoring the numbness in his back from staying there for so long. 

Little things start to fill in the gaps of his memory. If he remembers correctly _— which he wouldn't put a whole lot of trust in—_ Yggdrasil was selling fireworks by the shitty devs at a low price, so he should still have some right? Hisakazu stands up, patting away the little dirt from his... legs. 

He's an avatar, a thing that he could just shelve in the deepest, darkest part of his mind, comes closer to the river. The water is somewhat still, just reflecting the sunlight off. 

“What the _fuck_ is _that_?”

Hisakazu squats on the balls of his feet, hands gripping the material of the clothes covering his knees as he stares, wide-eyed and just… dumbfounded at the… at the _thing_ staring as dumbfounded as him.

Like seriously, what the _fuck_? 

His face is colored far healthier than he ever was with the darkest shade of black hair he has _ever_ seen, and it’s, uh, body - which is a long, _long fucking wing_ tenting over himself like a tree canopy, snake-like eyes with the deepest shade of honey, with _lion_ _fucking legs_ , that, wait for it, tapers off with a _tail_. _Motherfucking. Tail._

( He honestly didn't even check if he had a tail until he stopped to rest and gave himself a heart attack. )

Like literally, _what the fuck is this? Why did he think this was cool?_

“Good Lord, what do I even...” he starts, completely unable to take his eyes off of the _thing_ as it just… mirrors him. Because it _is_ him. The bottom portion of his body, ah, ugly, to say the least, but also?

“So fucking cool…”

Honestly, he thought that choosing a Gargoyle class and spicing things up with some Elder, ah, what was it? Fairy, the sex thing. He never thought much of the backstory, Hisakazu just wanted to make a sick ass design.

Speaking of design, he takes a closer look at the water, studying his face. He's fucking _handsome_ , like drop-dead pretty. Just slender enough nose, full lips, even his eyebrows were pretty! He's pale by standards, but this person has more color than his previous body, if they were comparing, Hisakazu's body looks like a corpse. 

_Snap_! 

Every beat of his heart sends molten heat pulsing through his veins in place of his blood, as he jerks to his feet, scrambling to a fighting stance, looks, and drops his hands limp to his sides. It's just a deer. A harmless-looking deer. It could be poisoned though, one can never be too careful.

(Or, well, something that _looked_ like a deer. You can never be too sure in this unknown territory.)

He drags himself up once his heart calms down, patting the new dust off of his already-dusty clothes. 

Though the deer looks completely harmless, if there's are deers then there are wolves, and those wolves could have demonic horns for all he knows; it _completely_ slipped his mind that “magical beasts” (or whatever the hell they’re referred to as) are a thing here. Maybe, better sorry than dead. Maybe there's something even stronger out there, and he's grateful for his Camouflage 1 tier spell.

"You know what? Fuck this," He gets up, scooping up his previously ignored chest plate, igniting the drive whenever he went and committed himself to long hours of grinding. Yeah, this little... whatever situation, is more like a grind. He needs information, so he'll get information.

He carefully walks out from there, totally nonchalant, hands crossed over his chest plate and head turned high to the sky. It’s not too hard to avoid eye contact with the water drinking deer, as it continued its business without any interference on his part.

Once left to his own devices, mind settled and the exhaustion finally ebbing away, and sweat dripping down his face, sticking uncomfortably to the grime on his cheeks. Hisakazu would probably grimace at the gross feeling any other time, but he just brushes it off, stumbling through forest bushes and wild plants.

Hisakazu has no destination in mind, just let his freak looking animal feet take him wherever they wanted… and apparently, they wanted to walk far down enough where he somehow speculates he's as lost as shit. Not that he even knows anything about anything but still. Not that he’s complaining because _holy shit_ , the area is _still_ so beautiful it still makes him a bit breathless— which leads him to the _next point_.

A waterfall. He stumbled upon a _whole_ fucking waterfall, dropping into a wide, computer background looking lake. Hisakazu can’t really believe his eyes, and something in his chest stirs with excitement as he continues to watch for any potential threats before gunning it, dropping his chest plate as he runs.

And he jumps right in.

Through the semi-clear sheen of the water, Hisakazu breaks all translucency as he submergence down to the floor.

 _Woah…_ Hisakazu breathes out a sigh of air, and awe, upon reemergence, unable to stop himself from splashing around like a child.

 _Its a glorious day!_ He already feels so much more awake, enjoying the feeling of the cool water running and dripping down his back, he could never have done this in his previous life. All he ever had in his little bathroom was a showerhead and a toilet. That's it. Pretty sad to be honest.

( when did he start thinking as his life as "previous"?)

He snaps out of his little splashing water daze a few hours later, having found himself a comfortable (and thankfully _not_ super dirty) spot in the grass, under a tree, not too far from the lake— chilling and drying out peacefully with the camouflage still on, from there he was able to watch the waterfall trail down it’s rocky steep, to the little dragonflies buzzing through the fauna along the shoreline.

 _Okay, future self, never do that again without a pair of backup clothes,_ he chides himself, eyes slipping shut, _let’s just… take a break for a bit._ Like this, the low rumble of falling water soothes his frayed nerves, and Hisakazu forces himself to focus on the sensation of dewy grass against his skin. It's still such an alien feeling, this being his third time he has ever touched _real_ grass.

And... it’s so nice, it’s beautiful, and it gives the impression that this is somewhere he can hide in if things became too much. The atmosphere over this alcove is soft, bustling with pleasant energy but still cool and unwavering, like the gentle waves of the beach.

It's a little slice of paradise, a sharp, teeth-baring contrast to his gray apartment walls. Well. He did buy that one poster, Akito was egging him to go and decorate his room as it was quote "too depressing to even look at" end quote. He bought it out of spite, as it was a posture entirely made out things colored teal blue, Akito's least favorite color.

(A bit of sad nostalgia bleeds into his heart, but he willfully ignores it.)

Gradually, Hisakazu relaxes back in the grass and just _breathes_. He tries to will his muscles to soften and his breathing to slow, just to see his situation as a blessing and think of it as an extended vacation. He tries not to think about his apartment, or the bills on the table, or what was gonna happen to his teal-colored poster. He really, _really_ , tries.

And for a tiny, slider of time, he does. 

Until he starts hearing voices.

Hisakazu feels hyper-aware of the heart beating in his chest, like every pump, every stutter, sets his blood aflame; the skin along with his clothes, to the air in his fur (?). 

His back scrapes against the tree bark and he trips over a fucking _rock_ , but after spending ten hours living and surviving in the wilderness, Hisakazu wants to think he has gotten pretty great at being quick on his feet, he promptly vaults himself over a nearby thick bush and boulders to hide.

He painstakingly holds his breath even as his chest burns for air, unwilling to risk even the slightest hint towards his whereabouts because _hey_ , he’d like to avoid being killed or eaten today. So he waits, dirty nails digging into the exposed fur of his knees, silent and unmoving until, after a few more painful, breathless moments, the sound of voices rises and its almost tangible. He wants to lean in, juch one more inch, to listen, but he grips his mouth with his other hand, unmoving.

The footsteps pass by and fade into the background.

 _Are they gone,_ Hisakazu wonders to himself, squinting carefully through the spaces between the boulders and heaving a _delicious_ breath of relief when no one is visible anywhere in the bustle of the forest.

Just as he was taking a tender step forward, a heavy voice called out. 

"Hey, wait. Sir, take a look at this!" 

_Wait, why are you stopping? Go, shu! Begone!_

The cold terrorized his back with the icy realization. The chest plate. The motherfucking chest plate. The white metal, topped with gold accents, a small parting gift from Akita as they joined different guilds. A joke. Oh shit, _shit, shit, shit—_

Hisakazu's back is ramrod straight, a cold sweat breaking out on his skin as he’s _scrutinized_ by the ramming self-scolding done by his conscious. _How can he forget to put something so important away!?_

 _What the fuck, what the fuck, what the FUCK,_ Hisakazu wails internally, trying (and succeeding, _thank god_ ) to keep his hands from shaking under the pressure. _What did I do now?_

A group of... knights? Start to surround the tree he was chilling at, no wonder taking notes of the ground and flat grass under it and besides the chest plate.

Now, if he were in his previous adult body (lanky, weak, but still _human_ ) then he probably wouldn’t be even thinking seriously the thought of walking towards the men with shiny swords, even if his life depended on it, but as it stands, he _isn’t_ in his previous body and is instead currently in a body that is the size of his door, half fucking lion, and wings to scare them off. Or to formally talk to.

He's genuinely not sure if he should feel _honored_ that he actually took a step forward, and up or utterly _petrified_ because he's Ito— _motherfucking—_ Hisakazu _,_ who, he reiterates ONCE AGAIN, is the one of the most unsociable, untalkable, and weakest man of mankind.

AKA: the arguably _worst_ , possible way to ensure his life is to talk to them.

AKA: The people are gonna kill him with those pointy ends, and he's going to _DIE—_

He clears his throat.

"Please, gentlemen. Don't poke your fingers on other people's belongings."

Oh _god_ , he's dead meat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for dropping by! Sorry that i didn't post sooner, i was waiting for an art piece to be completed but it takes too damn long. 
> 
> Next chapter is where the plot is going to be more cleared up and hopefully pick up.


	3. The people around here are assholes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, in these past hours, he has learned that the common folk around here don't like mythical creatures. Like himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _"The possibilities of the world are not so small."_  
>    
> _Shitty Devs_

3.

Okay, in these past hours, he has learned that the common folk around here don't like mythical creatures. Like himself.

"Please, gentlemen. Don't poke your fingers on other people's belongings."

"What the hell?!" 

_"Who said That?!"_

"Show yourself!" 

_Eh?_ It takes a second for the words to actually process through his distressed brain, but when they do, Hisakazu snaps his head up in shock at the explosion of commotion and blurry movements, all the knights were quick to react, as they quickly formed a circle with their backs facing each other. 

And Hisakazu stands there like the absolute freaking idiot that he is. He takes a hot second to process why they are circling when he's clearly in their sight.

He still has [Camouflage] on!

He facepalms himself, his smack alerting the already hyped up knights of his general direction. _Okay, you can do this. Just say sorry and leave._ He breathes in, nods to himself, and drops the magic.

He raises one hand to wave in greeting, but as fate (and his dog-shit luck) would have it, he’s just not allowed to have nice things! _Why does this happen to me,_ Hisakazu wails internally as shiny, _very_ pointy swords are pointed at his throat and many more start to surround him from the back.

Hisakazu wants to cry. Hewants to cry. With a speed that even _he_ would be a little bit impressed about if it were any other situation, at how fast the men surrounding him are.

"Um, there's some sort of misunderstanding here." 

Yes, there would be if a creature with giant wings with lion legs that sounds like an edited fan suddenly popped up. A man, heavy heard and with a dark glare stepped closer, posturing himself as the leader. 

"In the name of the Baharuth Empire and His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor, identify yourself, creature!" 

Woah. _Okay, rude._ "Um, like I said there's some kind of misunderstanding here. I was just taking a swim and wanted to relax, and uh, forgot to take an extra pair of clothes with me. So, I was just waiting to dry off? I'm just passing by, but as I was leaving, you know, forgot...to take my, uh, chest plate."

Hisakazu's increasingly awkward and drawn-out rambling is _thankfully_ cut short by a horse's neigh, carrying a man in such a shiny armor that he's a walking lighthouse. And he doesn't look too happy either.

Which just adds yet _another_ thing onto the list of _oh-shit-great-another-one_ thing to happen to him. Not only does he has what has to be the world’s worst luck, but now apparently he is going to die by a sword than life to explore the world _._

Silently, Hisakazu curses his fate with tears in his eyes. He absolutely doesn’t want to become a corpse!!

The tense silence is finally broken when the knight's sharp voice cut through the air like a piece of broken glass. “You,” he tilts his chin snobbishly, “what’s your name?”

_Aw shit, it's a dilemma time. Give him his real name or his gamer ID?_

Somehow the glare twisted even more with a hateful scowl aimed _right at him_.

Biting back a startled squeak, he stutters.“Uh, it's Tigris Euphrates."

The knight standing in front of him looking both put-off and mildly annoyed is honestly giving off a powerful aura, Hisakazu thinks. The man is dressed in the golden armor, highlighted by the dark contrast in the gaps and blood red as his cape, still as perfect and pristine as fantasy games like to dress them up.

And under the gaze of this man, his life ( _the whole ten hours of it )_ flashes in front of his eyes and Hisakazu sadly resigns in his fate and pleads to the gods above that this death is a _quick_ one this time because _holy fucking fuck, this man wants to skin me alive._ Hitched breaths from somewhere behind him and realizes that _oh… the man is getting off his fancy horse. Why is he getting off his horse??_

 _My luck can’t get any worse,_ his shoulders sag with depression, he’s gonna get skinned alive and be left for dead. He curses the glitchy fate that put him here in the first place rather than in his dingy apartment. He misses his apartment so much right now.

A soft sense of calm starts to settle in his chest as the resignation pushes away any leftover panic. After only having himself as a companion for the past ten hours, he is at least thankful that he made it this far.

The man stops a few feet away from him, his feet cautious and ready to move, and a hand at the grip of the sword he begins to talk.

"Tell me, creature, are you alone?"

Weird question, but okay. Still, Hisakazu slowly nods, a bit confused like the men surrounding him who _still_ have their swords pointed to his neck. The horsed knight looks a bit crossed if he's reciting whether to kill him here or torture him elsewhere.

For his safety, he waits.

And he _waits_. After a few seconds of tense silence and _waiting_ , Hisakazu has half a mind to _actually_ flee now, or kiss his ass goodbye. And before he can do something stupid and cowardly like _flee_ , or like, _continue to stand in the middle of a circle,_ the knight looks up with a determined face with eyes ablaze.

Not a good look when said man looked at you like he wanted to mount your head in the wall.

"Creature, tell me something, do you have any contempt for the Baharuth Empire? Or His Imperial Emperor?" 

"Huh?" You can't blame a guy for not totally understanding the 180 direction of the questions now.

The glare sharpens and a look of annoyance flutters over the man’s expression before it settles back into something impassive once again. “I asked you; do you have any contempt for the Baharuth Empire or of His Imperial Emperor."

The words weren’t a question this time, and quickly Hisakazu shakes his head, “I don't even know the guy, sorry." Hisakazu feels the disbelief of some knights around him, but a quick glare of the horse knight is enough to silence them.

The man’s eyes shift back down to Hisakazu for a long minute, and his shoulders curl inwards as if bracing himself for _some_ kind of surprise attack because that always seems to be how these things turn out, except… nothing of that sort happens. Instead, to Hisakazu’s surprise, the man makes a proposal.

"Tell me, creature, would you like to know more about the emperor?"

The fuck?

* * *

Okay so good news: Hisakazu is still alive and breathing _and_ unharmed!

The weird interaction, or whatever it was, that he had with the horse knight— Who's name is Cletus Tovic de Aloysius— didn’t turn out as horrible as he thought it would! Yes, the man had plenty (and Hisakazu _does_ mean plenty) of cruel, ruthless things to say about his entire living race, which is kinda racist, _and_ about what might happen should Hisakazu decide to, uh, deviate from what was expected from him.

Which? Okay, pause here. All he got was to gather his stuff and follow him because they want to show him something. Not ideal, really fucking condescending, but hey— he ain't dead.

Small victories! He’ll take what he can get!

His free hand scratches his left wrist, noting the less than welcoming glares from the surrounding soldiers. Even if he takes too short, or too long of steps he would have been warned about " _something, something emperor, something."_ So, he braces himself when nothing happens for a _long_ few moments, and aside from the rush of his own heart and the soft croak of cricket somewhere in the distance, there's only the marches of feet and metal clanking to accompany Hisakazu's silent figure.

Apparently, some guy named Rae Pius Aloysius who is a very important guy, seeing as he's the literal Minster of _Magic_ , yeah, like what? So with this nugget of information, he starts to build the sad staute of knowledge based on this world; magic exist, people who can control magic exist, there are government bodies dedicated to said regulated magic, and there's an _empire_ somewhere.

So, Humanity can use magic. He can too! But... well, he doesn't know if Camouflage is the only thing he can do, or if they magic is different or if he's dramatically weaker. After all, he wasn't the greatest magic caster of Yggdrasil or it's greatest fighter either.

If it were any other situation, Hisakazu would have taken full advantage of his very big boy, agile body and turns on his heels to bolt away. But then again, it's his big boy body that is turning his life into a mess. If he were a human, the endless possibilities of Magic blossom under his geeky-fantastical, wondering mind, wailing internally at having his chances ruined to see _actual freaking magic_ because of his freaking body.

"Hurry, creature! We're almost at the summit site!" The horse knight shouts behind him, springing him from his little daydream thoughts.

For the umpteenth time since he’d woken up, Hisakazu curses his terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad luck. 

The rest of the walk is arguably _worse_ \- but they arrive at a clearing, no longer with thick forests or tall mountains, but rather the endless hills and green valleys.

It’s… beautiful, the view as they ascend down the mountain. Whatever mental picture that Hisakazu held of the pre-world before disaster has been blown out of the water now. No competition - behind them were forests of tall, vibrant trees and rushing streams of water, and as they reached camp below, it was just as stunning. 

With no more fuss, sir horse knight sweeps him away and soon enough Hisakazu finds himself in chains on his ankles, and wrists with surrounding men around him, all giving him death glares. It’s, um, overwhelming, to say the least. With people speaking loud and crude, swarming around him, blocking his view. He barely has time to breathe in between the commotion being made over him, but is he gonna complain when he's going to get a clue on what the _fuck_ is going on? 

Maybe he'll even learn how this happen, and if its possible to go back home, to his bed and warm water, and smelly neighbours and Akito _—_

Fuck! He's going to get emotional again, and he can't have that when all the soldiers are around. 

He takes a deep breathe, the dirty looks sent his way are easily ignored as he closes his eyes in an act of calmness. _Think purely and calmly._

Because he’s _fine_. Absolutely _no_ panicking here!

But when he flutters his eyes open again, It's like someone dumped a bucket of ice-cold water over his head. There's a man speed walking in a direct line with death eyes to match. The horse knight notices too late, a flash of panic and the horse knight is running towards them. 

Oh fuck, he's going to get attacked! And he can't even move! He tries wiggling, the soldiers surrounding sensing the anxiety in the air, panic as well.

"Wait, sir-!"

His chest heaves and heaves, a wild panic jacks his heart as he scrambles back and _—_ the big man is just a step off him as he swings his sword, and Hisakazu snaps his eyes close and waits for the final blow that maybe webnovels and movies always describe; a flash of childhood memories, a bright light and darkness. 

"Tell me, why shouldn't I kill this creature then?" 

Hisakazu peaks one eye open, looking up to the cear stricken faces of the poor soldiers trembling, and the horse knight's hand just short of stopping the upcoming sword. 

He sags in relief, but he makes a big mistake of looking up and meeting the cold, blue eyes of his would-be killer, seeing nothing but contempt and hate.

He gulps, yeah, he really should have stayed back in the waterfall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW SCENE;
> 
> basically birds for brains over here talks to strangers and willingly hands himself over. Because he's not very bright.
> 
> I'm so sorry for not updating as soon as I would have liked, forgot I was a writer.  
> Thank you for dropping by and reading! I didn't want to add some random oc in, so I have decided to take a name that didn't have that much impact on the show or novels than anything else. I hope that's alright with you, cuz technically he's still an oc. But whatever. Remember to stay safe and inside!


	4. huh, people are giving me weird looks...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, in conclusion, he's going to die.
> 
> The sword pressed closer to his, very exposed neck, "Any last words?" 
> 
> Yep, die. Perish. Begone. Depart. Expire. Vanish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “I have no interest in last words."

4.

He's honestly torn between screaming because _there's a fucking sword on my neck_ (!!!) and trying to keep silent because he's absolutely fucking _terrified_. So much so that he collapsed, and leaned away as much as the chains around him (curse them) allowed him. The sword only followed.

Okay, in conclusion, he's going to die.

The sword pressed closer to his, _very_ exposed neck, "Any last words?" 

Yep, die. Perish. Begone. Depart. Expire. Vanish.

As Hisakazu stands frozen, chained and trapped, a heavy feeling settles in his stomach at the realization that this is _it_. The fact that he's here, on some mythical world instead of his apartment, means that everything going chaotic around him— no one is going to know what really happened to him.

There is no safe apartment anymore, Akito will not call him up and egg him to play, there aren't any noisy neighbors keeping up late at night, there aren't the grinding numbers of work. This. Is. It.

(All alone. To face whatever was waiting behind that deceptively seductive beauty around him. _All. Alone. )_

If he dies here, is he going to wake up? Like this is some bad dream, induced by sleep deprivation, and lack of food? Forget the details and let it fog up and eventually forget this ever happened? If it even did?

And at the epicenter of hysteria, he's still here. Still alive, breathing, feeling the body heat of another human being so close, and still alone and he comes to the conclusion that he _doesn't want to fucking die._

A lone, harsh voice breaks the tension between them. 

"Don't lay a hand on that creature, Drae. The Minister is interested in it." 

He's a tall man, still less short of himself though, but Hisakazu takes comfort that his lungs are still in breathing capacity, which he takes advance of and heaves a giant breath of relief. The unknown man is flanked to the sides by similar-looking soldiers that brought him here. If he sees that group again, he's gonna tear them a new one, just you wait.

"You must have no face to try to undermine the Minister,"his savior's cruel gaze sharpens and it’s as if the temperature drops a few hundred degrees, “Get that sword away from its neck." Slowly, the sword goes back into its scabbard, and Hisakazu is actually kind of impressed. To be _that_ intimidating with just one look alone… _that’s so fucking cool,_ he internally cries, trying (and failing) to hide his starry-eyed gaze from his apparent savior. 

For a man who had the entire motivation of his being to end his literal _life_ not too long ago considerably looks more ashamed of being caught than his murderous desires.

"I serve the Minister and His Royal Imperial Emperor to my death."

When the man steps back, still keeping his blue eyes on him before going back to one of the tents, Hisakazu and the soldiers, still holding his chains, sigh in relief. Poor souls must have been so grateful for being so well forgotten.

And it’s then that it hits Hisakazu, he’s still in metal _chains_ and promptly jumps back onto his feet to face his savior, shaking a little bit with both anxiety and excitement. “T-Thank you sincerely,” he manages through wobbly teeth, wincing at the crackling of his tone. He can feel the man’s eyes on him, so it’s not a stretch to say that Hisakazu jumped the gun by talking to him. 

He did kinda call him a creature. Kinda racist, but he'll let it slide for now. He _did_ save his life there.

Still standing in front of the slightly trembling creature, the cold man finds his gaze frozen. The creature, even with dirt-caked against his skin and hair deranged, looks… cute. Handsome even. The kind of beauty the man feels whenever he sees sunsets and deep seas —the revelation makes his stomach churn, and the man almost twitches at the heat of his own cheeks. He can hear the soldiers standing dutifully behind him start to shuffle anxiously, but the man can’t find it in himself to care right now.

"The men that took you here, they said that your name was Tigris Euphrates. Were they correct?"

"Um, yes. I am Tigris Euphrates, a pleasure to meet your acquaintance." You should hold out your hand in greeting, which he totally would, but the very heavy chains and anxious soldiers around them, Hisakazu opts for a friendly nod.

The man gives him a good look from his head to toes (paws?) Before nodding to himself. "Very well then, there aren't any magical creatures with your intellectual thoughts, so you'll be spared."

The man gestures his head to his side, a soldier from behind him steps forward. "This will be your personal guard, temporally of course. So no further incidents happen again."

His new bodyguard is looking pretty badass if he says so himself. Stoic, a scar through his eyebrow to his cheek, and a totally cool as a cucumber attitude, he totally looks like he'll eat your face if you so much as breathe in his direction.

His savior takes note of his wrist, now red and aggregated from the constant pull and friction caused in his would-be-death. He sighs in resignation.

"See that those wounds be taken care of."

* * *

_Oh god_ , Hisakazu wants to ram his head into the nearest wall. Multiple times. Like, just absolutely _obliterate_ himself against the nearest hard surface so he doesn’t have to deal with this shit anymore.

The men are so shameless to not even fake where they are looking! It's giving him chills! His new named bodyguard just... dumps him with a bunch of random women, all various ages mind you, and just left with few words of communication between them. And, like?? They instantly knew what to do?? 

Ever since he was stripped down, a little too fast for a first date (wink, wink), the women taking care of his hair are a traveling group that just follows the army around. Or at least that's what he picked up from their very experienced hands washing away the dirt and grime from his ridiculous tall body. Even with his little nature shower, the journey downhill, he somehow managed to get even dirtier than he was before.

He isn't complaining, hell no! Without the observant eyes of both men and women boring down onto Hisakazu's back, it's nice to feel warm water after ten hours of aimlessly wandering the forest, hell, he’ll take the personal hand bath approach _any_ day if it means he can get a little pampered like this.

As he’s tended to, it _still_ doesn't stop the guard's wondering eyes googling him like he was some display doll.

The only sexual human interaction he has ever come close to RL was that one time he walked in a couple fondling each other in his apartment's hall closet. The sheer horror traumatized him so severely that he stayed locked inside for three straight weeks and only came out to pick out the food delivery in his doorstep. 

Now, Hisakazu is a man with a lot of _pride_ and a strong sense of _face_ , he’ll admit, and since he woke up in his stupid, backwater world, it’s been blow after blow after _blow_ to his ego. He likes to think as himself as someone who can do the job decently done and on time, even if he's in chains, even if there's magic in the world and he can't use it, even if he's currently being bathed like a toddler, _even if he's a freaking prisoner,_ he's still a person and a good one at that.

SO IS IT TOO MUCH TO HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF PRIVACY AROUND HERE??

Thankfully his internal suffering is cut short, as his savior man enters, and Hisakazu doesn’t have time to ogle the situation before the man sits comfortably in a chair in front of him. While he's still in a wooden tub, naked, and still in chains. Despite the dirt floor, he's like a king perched comfortably on his golden throne, the man sits with one leg delicately crossed over the other, one hand supporting his chin while the other is loosing playing with a silver key. Which something tells him that it looks remarkably like the one that would get him out of these chains.

Hisakazu has to look up from his still kneeling puddle of musky water, only to meet his icy, jade eyes— and he uses them to _glare_ at Hisakazu the moment he looks at him.

 _Yep,_ Hisakazu gulps audibly, eyeing the key in the man's hand, knowing he wouldn't go far naked and in chains, _this is where I die. ‘Twas a good year…_

"My name is Verian, the man that you owe your existence to right now. " _Okay, that's a bit narcissistic._ "I'm the right-hand man for the Minister of Magic, and the man who's going to get you in front of him very soon. It's rare to see creatures like yourself, with that kind of mental compacity and intellect." 

Well, it's good to finally have a name for the intimidating guy that saved his life. But this is where the real challenge begins. 

Hisakazu straightens his back, he thinks back in the bosses meetings, how cold and detached they all looked from afar and he subconsciously tries to air the same unflinching manner despite the cold iron on his rapidly drying skin and stares directly into the jaded eyes. "What are the Minster's intentions towards me, if I may be so bold to ask?"

He almost flinches when the soldier's tense, he doesn't when Verian glares even more, or even when the chains suddenly feel more constrained. 

Verian only tilts his head, the only body admission of what he's thinking. 

Hisakazu counts to three.

He tries to breathe in. 

And out. In. Out.

Finally, "The Minister wants to meet the new mysterious creature that has been found roaming the eastern Azerlisia Mountains, more sentient than the Qusgoas yet alone, unlike the dwarfs."

Huh. So that's the name of the forest mountain he was roaming around in. That's certainly nice to know.

Verian places his arms on his knee and places a delicate smile on a cold face. A shiver runs up his spine. Yep, just ignore it, smile, and ignore. For all Hisakazu knows that he'll be, um, disposed of once his usefulness experience. It happens RL far too often, workers burn out and like flies are replaced by their children and the cycle continues.

 _Yet_ , all said and done itgets almost impossibly harder to ignore because _holy shit_ Verian is getting closer to his seat. For a split second, Hisakazu's mask falters and the subsequent glare his savior-turn-investigator sends his way is _piss-your-pants_ intimidating. _Luckily_ , Hisakazu, master of bullshitting, and pretending that everything is a-okay, does _not_ let his expression betray the fact that he kind of wants to cry.

The cold glare wasn't any warmer, the harden face looking down on him with twisted glee in his discomfort.

"Now, if you are so kind, creature. Tell me, what are you and what business do you have with the Baharuth Empire?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!! Speaking of graduation, guess who finally graduated high school?? Me! 
> 
> Lmao, i wrote this endnotes on the 13th, and it's like the 28. Jesus im slow to updates huh. I'm sorry i keep ending my chapters with questions and not adding more meat to my stories, but it 12 pm rn and I want to sleep, so thank you for bearing with the slow updates right now. stay inside and stay safe. Also, I did my own fanart bc a bitch is broke, so uh. It should take u to my dead Tumblr page.
> 
> [a man of stupidity](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/judas-draws-shit/624666210274066432)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Drop a comment for my self validation! (Im joking wait do please leave a comment--


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